[Thread] Here Econtra...

[yeah_i_can_fly]

Characters: OU Tony Stark/Iron Man, OPEN
Where: anywhere near the cemetery/church area, and one of the open lots on that side of Econtra
When: after Pepper's disappearance
Summary: After spending the entire morning searching for his beloved Pepper Potts and not finding her, Stark dons his IM suit and goes on an emo-trinsic rampage.
Warnings: He is

Comments

[yeah_i_can_fly]

The blowing up of random objects had been slowly trickling to a reluctant stop for some time now after he had found himself hovering above the empty lot on the northern edge of the compound. His palms still glowed from the steady and constant charge of the Repulsor rays however, and his HUD told him that he had actually, somehow, managed to deplete his MKII (duplicate version) Arc reactor's power by the slightest fraction.

He turned in the air towards the tiny voice behind him and the faceplate of the Iron Man was a stoic cold metal without expression, an exact replica of his face beneath at the moment. He was calm--deathly calm--beneath the mask, and beneath the ache of his chest.

"Yes?" came the cold reply of the Iron Man's metallic voice.

[yeah_i_can_fly]

Stark paused and tilted his metallic head to the side for a moment in silent thought. He considered the meaning of the question and the inner effect of "it" on him directly, the feelings on the inside that he felt when he allowed himself to dwell on them. He didn't want to go in there, but he figured an honest answer was due the goddess.

The answer, in all truth and honesty, was "no."

"It feels good," he answered at last. "In the moment." Never mind that it did not take the pain away permanently; never mind that his chest ached where, briefly, he had had some semblance of a heart brought about thanks to those that had surrounded him.

[yeah_i_can_fly]

Tony smiled bitterly under the mask, noting that she wouldn't look directly at him. His wry expression was for the words, for an utter disdain to the irony that he was very well aware of thank-you-very-much. And for the concept of "why if only." The goddess could not understand--her ages-old complexity did not allow her to understand the insane reasoning's of the little mortals beneath her. There wasn't a reason in the history of the universe that could be put into words that would explain why a mortal did the things he did--if only for the moment

[yeah_i_can_fly]

Iron Man turned his back to her when she could no longer meet his gaze. He stared down at the broken ground beneath him and a low hum of power coursed through the weapons system integrated into his palms. They glowed a bright white for a moment and then the humming stopped.

"What's not reassuring in the concept of destroying one's enemies? What's not gratifying in winning a war? What's not invigorating in escaping in a blaze of glory? What's not elating in finding a way home!?" The Iron Man countered mercilessly. His words quickened with each sentence and by the time he reached the last one his voice was a high pitch of frantic madness. He took a deep, shaky breath as he finished.

[yeah_i_can_fly]

"How do you know that?" he barked angrily, and the Iron Man's eyes flashed dangerously again as he spun on her. With a simple "push" of his hands he closed the gap between them and hovered too closely in her face. "How!?"

He demanded an answer, and this time somehow the emotion showed through on the red and yellow mask. He conveyed a sense of desire and need through those lifeless eyes. He needed to know. He wanted to know. --That Pepper was safe.

When the answer didn't come--it couldn't--he thrust a metallic finger at her. "You don't! Not even you can know! For all any of us know the one's that disappear are taken away to another compound and eaten by these things!

"'But what about the one's who come back'?" he mock-whined in a disdainful tone that easily filtered through the mechanical tones. "That could easily be a ploy!" he answered his own question. "That's what I would do if I wanted to keep these pathetic creatures quiet! Let them have their false hope and their petty delusions. It makes for more complacent prey."

[yeah_i_can_fly]

Iron Man hovered there an immovable, dispassionate piece of machinery and man melded into a seamless form. A little too seamless, and a little too cold. He did not react to her tears or racking breath or the obvious pain the entire situation brought upon the goddess thanks to the heartless automation that he'd become.

He watched her cry with emotionless eyes that glowed without life. Beneath the mask a stoic face remained as tight and blank as it possibly could. How long could it last against the flow of despairing tears?

For an eternity it felt. But Stark's heart wasn't entirely black and dead just yet. It still beat with emotion, somewhere deep inside there.

One of the palm rays turned off and the hand lifted gently to the soft hair on the goddess's head. The suit's speakers didn't pick it up and carry it to the outside world, but somewhere within Tony Stark whispered the words, "I'm sorry."

((Of course. I never would have thought of it in any other way. :3))

[yeah_i_can_fly]

Stark's metal-encased hand remained in the air for a long moment after she turned away and began to drift from him. It was as if he couldn't quite let go of the moment, and was reaching out to grasp at it like sand between his fingers. The moment did pass though, and his hand fell back down to his side with a small metallic clink. He stared after her.

He gave a tiny nod. He understood. But that--was not what he wanted right now. He watched her leave in silence and hovered there in his wallowing emotions.